Poetry: From Sputnik to Eden
Sputnik
I was born the month the Russian moon
crossed the night sky beeping
like a frenetic alarm,
America still yawning
at the factory gate
having just saved democracy
for Walt Disney and General Motors—
maybe in that order.
You could smell the aluminum
of a thousand tracts where women
high on hairspray and Good Housekeeping.
sent their children off
to a world terrified
by its victories.
The future seemed buzzy as neon
outside the Tastee-Freeze,
bright as the yellow coat of arms
of the fallout shelter
tacked to the courthouse entrance.
We’d grow up in fear
and polyester, television
our forever. In Sunday
school we watched
a movie about the Holocaust
and shivered to think that
someplace else
people could be so mean.
Out Of Eden
The high gate clanged
and trash blew against the fence.
We could see the angels in their dormitories,
the lighted doorway of the chapel
we’d never enter again.
The river flowed under the gate
and into the darkness, and we followed it.
After the first bend, we didn’t look back.
The land unfolded
its lengthening question.
In new forests, wolves
chased deer. Hawks circled.
Frogs called in the marshes.
Shall I not extend my hand
to you, stranger,
when we meet
in this wilderness?
Two Sandhill Cranes in Late March
On the muddy
fisherman’s path
to the swollen river
that spills its
cold silver
over the bank and
breeches the
ochre palisade,
two abrupt
silhouettes
rise from the grass,
incline their
Martian foreheads,
spread their
black capes,
open their
sharp beaks,
utter cries
awkward and terrible—
the wrenching
of clapboards
from some
long-abandoned
church,
the shriek
of nails
pulled from the
joists
of the world.
…………………
Contributor
James Armstrong, Winona’s first Poet Laureate, taught English and Creative Writing at Winona State University in Winona, Minnesota, for 24 years. He helps run the Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest, and plays guitar in the Bell House Band. In addition to “Empire”, Jim is author of “Monument in a Summer Hat”, “Blue Lash”, “Nature, Culture and Two Friends Talking” (with Kim Chapman), and “Crossings, the Poets Laureate of Winona, Minnesota” (with Emilio DeGrazia, Ken McCullough and Nicholle Ramsey).
“Empire” (Up On Big Rock Poetry Series, 2023) and “Crossings” (Lost Lake Folk Art, 2021, and silver medalist for Anthology from Midwest Book Awards) were both published by the award-winning Shipwreckt Books Publishing Company. Shipwreckt began publishing in 2012 in Rushford, opened an office in Lanesboro in 2013, relocated back to Rushford in 2016, and relocated again to Winona in 2021 where it continues to offer creative development, copy editing, and traditional publishing services, producing 6-8 titles annually, including its literary magazine, “Lost Lake Folk Opera.”
